Free Rocky Mountain Die by Jake Bible Page A

shit start. I can’t actually confirm any real shit happens because I can’t see it. It’s all second hand. Or second ear? Is that a thing?
    “Watch your left!” Stuart shouts.
    There’s a gunshot and the snarls of Zs get louder. Another gunshot followed by a few grunts and curses. I’m guessing it’s not the Zs doing the cursing. Unless they’ve evolved. Although would cursing constitute evolved?
    I hear Elsbeth yell and then a loud crash followed by several more.
    “Good one!” Charlie shouts.
    “Nice team,” Cassie says.
    “Quiet, you,” I reply. “Trying to listen to my stories.”
    “How long do you think you can last, Jace?” Cassie asks.
    “Duck!” Stella yells and then there are three consecutive gunshots. “Back! Back!”
    “Jace?” Cassie asks, so casual. “How long do you think you will last? Really?”
    “Are you hearing what I’m hearing?” I respond. “We are a good team. We’ll last.”
    “But you aren’t part of the team, Jace,” Cassie says. “You’re stuck in a wheelchair. Your scalp is bleeding and you’ve lost motor control in your one intact arm.”
    “I’ll get better,” I snap.
    “Will you?” Cassie laughs. “How very optimistic of you, Jace Stanford. You know they can’t carry you everywhere. Eventually you’ll have to pull your own weight. When that time comes, do you think you’ll be ready?”
    “I was born ready,” I say. It’s cheesy, but what else do you say when someone asks if you’re ready?
    “But will you die ready?” she asks. “Or will you die because you weren’t ready? If you ask me—”
    “Which I didn’t,” I growl.
    “If you ask me,” Cassie continues, “there will come a time in the next couple of days where your team, your family, will have to decide whether you live and they die or they live and you die. Do you really want to force that decision on them?”
    “I’d like to force a gag in your mouth,” I say.
    “Hold the top!” Stuart yells. “Hold it!”
    More gunshots, more yelling, more Z moans and snarls and grunts. Something snaps and gives way, but I don’t hear the big crash.
    “Hey! You fucking dead pieces of shit!” Charlie yells. “This way! Flesh buffet on the second floor! All you can motherfucking eat!”
    Ah, that’s my boy. Barker to the undead.
    “Let me go and I’ll make sure you live, Jace,” Cassie says.
    I laugh. I laugh hard. Then I hurt. I hurt hard.
    “No, I swear,” Cassie responds to my many guffaws. “I’ll make sure you have a sister protecting you at all times.”
    “I already have one of those,” I smile. “El’s got my back.”
    “Does she?” Cassie chuckles. “Where is she now? She left you with a killer and is off protecting your son, not you. I think she’s already eyeing the next generation of Stanfords because she knows you’re dead weight.”
    “She’s saved my ass plenty of times,” I say. “She’s not going to just give up on me now.”
    “That’s right, she’s saved your life,” Cassie says. “ You r life. Have you saved her life?”
    “Yeah,” I reply. “Probably. Maybe.” Have I?
    My head hurts.
    “I bet it does,” Cassie says, all smirks and shit. “That was out loud, by the way.”
    “Yeah, thanks,” I say.
    “Okay, you aren’t one to be swayed easily, Jace. I get that,” Cassie says. “I respect that. But can I ask you a question?”
    “Can I stop you?”
    “In your current condition? No,” Cassie says. “If it came down to saving you or saving one of your kids, maybe both of your kids, what choice would Elsbeth make?”
    “Your right! Your right! YOUR RIGHT!” Elsbeth screams.
    “Shut up! I got it!” Charlie yells back.
    There’s a distinct grinding of metal. This is good. Very good.
    “Answer the question, Jace,” Cassie says.
    “I can’t stop you from asking the question, but you also can’t force me to answer it,” I say.
    “I don’t really need you to answer it,” Cassie says. “I know the answer. She’d save